Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Mississippi sits at a median home price of $119,358, making it one of the more affordable entry points in the state. The affordability index scores a perfect 100, and the county ranks 273rd out of 1,000 nationally, placing it in the 65th percentile overall. That said, the investment estimate data returns zeros across cap rate, cash flow, and cash-on-cash return, which signals that rental income data sufficient to generate reliable yield calculations isn't available for this market. Investors should treat that gap as a flag requiring independent rent comps before underwriting, not as evidence of zero yield. Home prices are essentially flat, down 0.4% year-over-year, so there is no meaningful near-term appreciation story embedded in recent price action. The appreciation score of 48 confirms this market does not belong in the same conversation as growth corridors.

Given those characteristics, Montgomery is most logically evaluated as a cash-flow or value-add play, not an appreciation trade. The purchase price of $119,358 is low enough that even modest rents can produce workable gross yield numbers if rents are in the range typical for rural Mississippi. The cash-flow score of zero, however, reflects the absence of reliable rent data in the model rather than confirmed negative cash flow, and a buyer willing to do the legwork on local rents may find a different picture. The stability score of 50 and a population of just under 10,000 are the more honest constraints here: thin tenant pools mean higher turnover risk, longer vacancy windows, and limited exit optionality if you need to sell quickly. Value-add operators who can buy distressed assets below the county median and force appreciation through rehab have the clearest path to a defensible return, since the low entry price compresses downside risk on the acquisition side even if rental demand is uneven.

No economic anchor data was provided for Montgomery County, so employment base and major employer concentration cannot be assessed from this dataset. That absence is itself a consideration: in a county of fewer than 10,000 people without identifiable institutional anchors on record, rental demand is likely tied to a narrow set of employers or to agricultural activity, both of which carry cyclical and seasonal exposure. Investors accustomed to markets backstopped by a university, hospital system, or military installation should weigh the lack of that kind of anchor carefully.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure comes to $130, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 0.81% and an insurance rate of 0.50% applied to the $119,358 purchase price. The 0.81% rate is flagged as normal, which means it is neither a tailwind nor a meaningful drag by Mississippi standards. The $130 monthly carry is not a deal-breaker at this price point, but it is worth noting that this uses a state-average estimate; actual county and township rates in Montgomery can differ, so pull the parcel-level tax history before closing. At $119,358, the annual insurance figure of $597 is also on the lower end in dollar terms, though Mississippi's exposure to severe weather means actual insurance costs should be verified with a local carrier rather than assumed from statewide averages.

The primary risks here are scale and liquidity. A population of 9,803 means the renter pool is small, and any single large employer contraction or population outflow could meaningfully affect vacancy rates. There is no data provided on regulatory risk, so rent control is not a documented concern, but rural Mississippi counties at this population size generally operate under landlord-friendly state law. The flat price trend and the low population together suggest this is not a market that recovers quickly from oversupply at the single-family level if too many units hit the rental market simultaneously.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, Montgomery is the lowest-priced market by a meaningful margin. Simpson County is the next closest at $145,629, followed by Forrest at $182,640 and Tishomingo at $186,177, with Madison at $329,801 at the far end. Among neighbors with rent data, Forrest County shows a rent-to-price ratio of 7.34% and Harrison County shows 7.55%, both materially higher than what most rural Mississippi markets generate, and both score 62 overall versus Montgomery's 64. If generating verifiable yield on a larger capital base is the priority, Forrest or Harrison present more liquid rental markets with documented rent-to-price ratios. Madison County, at $329,801 and a 6.21% rent-to-price ratio with an overall score matching Montgomery's 64, is an appreciation and quality-tenant play at a completely different capital requirement. Montgomery makes sense over its neighbors specifically when the investor's constraint is acquisition capital, when the business plan is a low-price value-add strategy, and when the investor has local market knowledge to fill the rent data gap that the model cannot currently resolve.